Goa's official NRI convention on Jan 3-4, 2006

Gomant Vishwa Sammelan, the Goa government's name for its annual convention of expat Goans, is being held on January 3-4 at the Kala Academy.

If one goes by the official programme, it promises to offer lots of official speeches -- including an inauguration at 4.30 pm on Jan 3 "at the hands of H.E. Shri S C Jamir, Governor of Goa in the distinguished presence of Shri Francisco Sardinha, Hon'ble Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly".

On January 4, what's promised is interactive sessions between 9.30 am and 3.50 pm with the deputy CM and tourism minister Dr Wilfred de Souza, and minister for education and industries, Luizinho Faleiro. Given the trend of our politicians to talk-down to the voters, and do very little listening, one wonders how "interactive" will interactive be.

Later, at 4.30 pm, there will be a 'face to face' with chief minister Pratapsing Rane and former CM (now Opposition leader) Manohar Parrikar.

The program says there's not much on Jan 3, apart from floral welcomes, variety entertainment, a dinner, and an address by the Governor.

For a state which has about the highest out-migration levels in the world (according to anthropologists like Robert S Newman *), Goa has done precious little for its expat community. So can we expect anything but more platitudes?

Jan 4 programme will have a presentation on the industrial "scenario" (9.30 am), a question-and-answer session with views of NRIs and summing up (10.10 to 11.15 am), a presentation on the education scenario (11.30 am to 12.20 pm), a presentation on the tourism scenario (2.30 to 3.10 pm), another Q&A (3.10 to 3.50 pm), a Q&A with the CM and the leader of the Opposition (4.10 to 5.30 pm) and a valedictory address by the CM (at 5.30 pm).

--- * See Newman's essay, 'Goddess of Dreams, Homeland of Gold' in "Of umbrellas, goddesses & dreams: Essays on Goan culture and Society", Other India Press, Mapusa 2001. On page 89, he writes: "... well before and even after (1961), Goans have been migrants to many parts of the world. The experience of Diaspora, of being a stranger in a strange land, has been a quintessentially Goan experience. Goa, along with Greece, Ireland, Malta, Lebanon and some small Pacific island states, must have one of the highest rates of migration in the world. For many, other parts of India have been the lands of fortune. Many more have earned their livelihoods in East Africa, the Gulf sheikhdoms, North America, Portugal, England or Australia. In some parts of Goa, even today, a great percentage of the men work on ships, roaming the world to return only once in a year or eighteen months."]